I think there was once a salesman with short hair, a suit, and a briefcase.
I think he talked fast and looked at his watch alot. I think he was very good.
I also think that today most all salesman fit this discription. Notice I never
metioned selling at all only looking the part. Someday a great salesman will
come along who is different and change all this. What I am saying is be yourself
as a magician, or salesman, after all that is really all you have. Otherwise
the best you can be is a copy, and nothing better. There are lots of others,
and only one you.

I agree Don. One of the worse things I see young performers do is imitate other magicians, line for line, movement by movement - even the jokes.
Now while I certainly understand beginners doing this as they learn a particular effect, eventually making it unique to their own personality is something most of these young neophytes are truly missing the boat on.

Nobody but Mac King will ever deliver a performance like Mac, so why would you even attempt something like that? While I think Paul Gertner is a wonderful magician, I'm confident that I would never perform the Cups & Balls using steel balls, and I would never dream of using Paul's patter lines.

While we can learn much from watching the greats (e.g, Dai Vernon, Charlie Miller, Slydini, etc), we must realize that each of these folks were successful because they not only understood the mechanics of each trick they performed, but they presented the tricks as themselves, using their own lines, personality, etc. This I think is extremely important. As they say, while the effect is what matters, presentation is absolutely EVERYTHING!. Thanks for bringing this important topic up Don.

So, when should one begin personalizing effects? Should it be from the onset, after learning and practicing the methods, or should it be after performing an effect through time, just as the creator released it?

I hope that's understood.

I remember Rene Lavand telling a story about seeing an effect
and really liking it. He learned the effect and preformed it
and received a mild response. Undaunted he kept at it, changed
it to suite himself and kept at it. No matter, it still didn't
go over. Finally he realized he could not do the effect, as
much as he liked it. His conclusion was that we are restricted.
I can't explain this but it is also true for me. I made a paper
rose for a girl and she looked me in the eye and waded it up and
thru it on the floor. Not sure why but I don't do the effect.
The short answer...learn the effect, personalize it, try it and
listen. Seek and you will find. And if spectators throw your cards
on the floor, become a coin guy, or make a napkin rose.

I get you crystal clear. I usually modify the patter whenever I get a new effect. Still, there are some times when I just have to try the creator's patter because it's just perfect for the effect. Then, as you state, I change it based on the reactions I get. Recently, I've been paying attention to my body language, mostly in the mirror, as part of my personalization process. A friend of mine recently hipped me to this and I'm glad. I never paid much attention to how much body language makes a difference in performing.

Thanks for the anecdote.

"Above all..."

Yes, and...We forfeit three-forths of ourselves in order to be like
other people. --Arthur Schopenhauer
Thanks

I believe someone once said that a magician should approach their act like a gardener, not as an architect. To my mind, that really says something about how to "be yourself" as well as how to select the effects that we use and, more importantly, do NOT use. Periodically weeding out the material that does not work and planting new seeds and allowing them to grow as we do ... and remembering that not everything a gardener plants will grow.

You've hit the nail on the head with this one, as usual.

Lee Darrow, C.H.

Each of us has a shoebox filled with tricks we don't do,
this speaks volumes. Yes the gardener plants the seeds...